Many scientific and medical organizations, including industrial concerns, regulatory agencies, research laboratories, and academic institutions, have the need for secure storage of very large numbers, e.g., a few thousand up to multiple millions, of samples and specimens. Such fields include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, laboratory diagnostics, genomics, biological specimen banks, forensics, agrichemical and specialty chemical. Depending on the application, the sample sizes can vary from tens of microliters to several drams, which are stored in small, sealed plastic tubes or vials. These containers are retained in a rack that allows individual samples to be inserted or removed without removing an entire rack, or the tray the holds one or more racks. To extend the useful lifetime of the samples, they are stored in a controlled environment of low temperature (typically −20° to −80° C. or lower), low humidity, and inert gas (nitrogen), and are subjected to as little environmental variation as possible. In order to handle very large numbers of samples in the most efficient manner, a number of considerations must be made to enhance the system's flexibility and adaptability for different applications with the smallest possible footprint to minimize the use of valuable laboratory space.
An overview of currently available compound storage systems and technologies is provided by Dr. John Comley in his article entitled “Compound Management in pursuit of sample integrity”, published in Drug Discovery World, Spring 2005, pp. 59-78, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Given the high costs of laboratory space, one area of focus in the design of storage systems in life science is how to make the system more compact while still retaining the ability to quickly access any sample for removal or storage.
A typical automated storage system includes shelves with a robot that moves along an aisle between the shelves to place and retrieve samples. Examples of such “narrow-aisle” storage systems include the SmaRTStore™ and CompactStore™ available from RTS Lifescience, and the HomeBase™ manufactured by TAP (The Automation Partnership). This configuration generally results in a footprint that is about 65% storage and 35% dedicated to robotics.
In order to maximize the functional storage space, the area dedicated to the robotics should be minimized without sacrificing accessibility. The present invention is directed to such a compact storage system.